Thinking of God makes people bigger risk-takers

Reminders of God can make people more likely to seek out and take risks, according to new research.

The findings suggest that people are willing to take these risks because they view God as providing security against potential negative outcomes.

"References to God pervade daily life. In fact, the word 'God' is one of the most common nouns in the English language.

"The fact that reminders of God are so ubiquitous suggests that this effect may impact a large number of people," said lead researcher Daniella Kupor of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Many previous studies had indicated that religiosity and participation in religious activities are associated with decreases in people's engagement in risky behaviours like substance abuse and gambling, but Kupor and her colleagues noticed that the risks examined in these studies tended to share a negative moral component.

The researchers hypothesised that thinking about God may have a different effect in relation to risks that have no moral connotation, since people tend to view God as a source of protection and security.

They decided to test this hypothesis in a series of experiments.

In a group of online survey studies with nearly 900 participants, the researchers found that people who were reminded of God were more willing to engage in various risky behaviours than those participants who weren't prompted to think about God.

In another study, the researchers posted variations of three ads online and recorded the click-through rates for each.

There were ads that promoted an immoral risk ('Learn how to bribe'), ads that promoted a non-moral risk (ind skydiving near you'), and ads that promoted no risk ('Find amazing video games').

In some cases, the ads included a mention of God (e.g., 'God knows what you're missing! Find skydiving near you'.)

The findings were clear: When the ad included a reference to God, people clicked on the skydiving (non-moral risk) ad more often, but they clicked on the bribing (moral risk) less often.

People clicked about the same number of times on the computer games ad, with or without a mention of God."We were surprised to find that even a simple colloquial expression - 'God knows what you're missing' - influences whether people click on a real online ad that is promoting a risky behaviour," Kupor said.

The study was published in Psychological Science.